CHAPTER 14
"A STROKE OF GOOD LUCK"

PREVIOUSLY:
Lizy, now in charge due to the King's absence, began to plot a strategy against Cruel.

In only two days, things were already looking brighter, and the plans for the counterattack were nearly complete. The brunt of the attack would hit Lizard City from the north and the west, drawing Cruel's forces away from the south, where a smaller detachment of the Valley's strongest troops would strike. Their goal was to find and free the citizens and troops being held as prisoners.

Cruel may have had little trouble rounding up the panicking residents of the city who were fleeing for their lives, but now that they had been mistreated and knew that the King was in danger, they'd be madder than hornets. Cruel would have a harder task of keeping a riot like that under control. With Lizard City in civil disorder, they could concentrate on liberating Mt. Lizard. The only problem that faced Lizy now, though, was that nobody knew the exact location of where the prisoners were being held. Until they did, the plan would have to wait.

Lizy, Speedy, and Chubby were discussing this in Lizy's office that afternoon when there came a knock at the door. One of Lizy's bodyguards came in the door.

"Someone here to see you, Guardian Lizy," he said with a slight bow.

"Let them in," Lizy replied, pushing all the maps and charts on his desk aside. To his surprise, none other than Goody-Goody the chef and Bob the waiter walked into the office! Goody-Goody had his prized walking stick in hand, and Bob had on a helmet (for protection against wild animals, of course) and a backpack full of survival equipment (including three months worth of canned ham, eight pairs of snow shoes, enough tents and sleeping bags for the entire Lizard Valley army, and a couple of rubber chickens, just in case).

"Oh, Lizy, it was awful!" cried Bob jumping up on Lizy's desk and grabbing onto Lizy's cape.

"Don't mind him," Goody-Goody announced, pulling Bob aside, "We didn't escape until after they tortured him."

"Oh, the agony!" Bob lamented, "They tied me up and made me count to twenty backwards! I thought I was going to die!" Lizy rolled his eyes.

"You escaped?" asked Speedy.

"Masterfully, if I do say so myself," Goody-Goody boasted jokingly. "Otherwise, we'd still be working in the mines down under Lizard City. I, for one, don't ever want to do that again."

"So that's what Cruel's up to!" Chubby concluded, pounding his fist into the palm of his hand. "But there aren't any mines in Lizard City! In fact, most of our iron and coal mines are near here. You said you were in Lizard City, right?"

"Oh, yes," Goody-Goody answered. "It seems the mine is located directly below the old steel mill in the southern part of town. The steel mill and surrounding industrial compound are where Cruel has set up his headquarters. I'm not sure what it was we were mining, but it's something I've never seen before."

"Now we have the information that we've been waiting for!" exclaimed Speedy.

"Yes, but Cruel's up to something if he's more interested in some weird mine than Mt. Lizard," Lizy noted, "And with him in Lizard City, our plan is going to be all the harder to pull off."

NEXT TIME: "Checkmate"
Lizy's good fortune comes to an end.